Fit Travel: Adventures in Burlington, VT

For breakfast, fuel up with a coffee and pastry at Muddy Waters. The café’s exposed brick and beams have a woodsy, log-cabin feel. The cozy tables are a great place to pour over a cheap paperback from Crow books, an indie shop that specializes in quirky, rare, and used titles.

Refuel at lunch with flatbreads and artisanal beer. Burlington Hearth cooks organic thin-crust pizzas in a wood-fired oven for a deliciously smoky flavor. Top yours with maple-fennel sausage and fresh goat cheese.

Satisfy your sweet tooth with some fudge from Lake Champlain Chocolates. If you’re eating with buddies, head up the street to Ben & Jerry’s and demolish the epic Vermonster: a behemoth 20-scoop sundae piled high with hot fudge, bananas, cookies, and brownies. (FYI, fit guys: The Mini-Vermonster delivers a more modest sugar binge.)

You’ll have no shortage of dinner options on restaurant-packed Church Street. Leunig’s serves solid bistro fare, and the $15 dinner special is a great deal. Line up at early-bird hours or again post-dinner rush to nosh on steak frites or tomato sesame-crusted salmon.

The chill Burlington Hostel has a Zen vibe that will help you catch some much-needed z’s. Crash here after paying homage to the nabe’s music scene. Stop by Nectar’s to rock out to reggae and funk. (Sate your late-night cravings with a heaping plate of their famous gravy fries.)

If jazz is more your jam, head to Radio Bean, where you can also guzzle the Five Dollar Shake, a genius combination of stout, maple syrup, and espresso. The hostel is just a few blocks from the nightlife action. Delicious bonus: gratis Belgian waffles each morning.